Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia in Asia Minor, near present-day Selcuk, Turkey. It was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC, and the Athenian prince Androklos founded the city. In 650 BC, the Cimmerians razed the city, and it was conquered by the Lydians in 560 BC. Their king Croesus rebuilt the temple to Artemis in the city, and the Ephesians sided with the Lydians against the Persians, leading to their conquest in 547 BC. Ephesus continued to prosper, and it was a member of the Delian League at the start of the Peloponnesian War, later defecting to Sparta and being reoccupied by the Persians. Ephesus later passed through the control of several Macedonian and Greek successor states, with Pergamon being the last; in 129 BC, Pergamon was annexed by the Roman Republic. Under Roman rule, the population reached up to 225,000 people, and it was the second-most important Byzantine city in Asia after Constantinople during the 5th and 6th centuries. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD, and the Arabs sacked the city from 654 to 655. It was a small village at the time of the Seljuk conquest in 1090, and it was abandoned under Ottoman rule during the 15th century.